If Iraqis are tired of Saddam Hussein and his government, they should be the ones tearing down likenesses and statues of him, not U.S. soldiers.
Reports have been streaming from Iraq that U.S. and British soldiers have been helping Iraqi people tear down the numerous statues of Saddam Hussein across the country. In some cases, coalition forces have been removing the statues and doing away with paintings themselves. CNN reports that forces have been hitting the artwork at will, and soldiers have been seen shooting machine guns at paintings and statues.
In 1991, the toppling of the government in the Soviet Union led to the razing of numerous icons including Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and soviet symbols such as the cycle and hammer. Even though most of the artwork was destroyed, some of it remains because Russian citizens chose to save it. Nazi concentration camps from World War II have been maintained to teach those who could not experience the conflict about the horrors it contained. Germans and Russians, not their conquerors or outside nations, chose to save these icons.
For no reason should coalition forces destroy these icons. The Iraqi people have a right, as a newly democratized country, to decide whether they want to keep the statues or destroy them. Making decisions such as this for them is not our job in Iraq. There even has been some show of support for Saddam in the country, and removing vehicles for the free exchange of ideas is contrary to our own beliefs.
By taking the situation into our own hands, coalition forces are working for their own benefit, not that of the Iraqi people.
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